At the church where I am interning, one of our ministries is to visit a local nursing home weekly and lead a Bible Study there. The attendees’ interest and ability to participate varies widely, so we keep it basic – reading a section of Scripture and discussing the details here and there.
This past week was my first time to lead the Bible Study. I went, armed with my big, fat study Bible, just in case someone asked some big exegetical or historical question and I couldn’t come up with an answer on the fly. Not sure why I was worried – many of these folks are so limited in their speech and hearing. But anyway, the big, fat Bible made me feel better.
So I launched into the third and fourth chapters of John, following the lead my supervising pastor had set before (he went through John 1-2 the last time) and somewhat gracefully navigated through Nicodemus, John the Baptist, and the Samaritan woman at the well.
But do you know what seemed to touch them the most?
The familiarity of John 3:16, which, when I read it, many of them repeated with me. It was amazing to behold, for here were folks who were in various stages of falling asleep or nodding politely at the cute little vicar with her big, fat Bible – and in the midst of their fogginess, John 3:16 found some familiar place in their hearts.
When I returned to the church, I was discussing the study with a member, and in the course of the conversation, we reminded each other that we never know what work the Holy Spirit is doing whenever God’s Word is being read, preached, and/or taught. And that is what will keep me going back to the nursing home to read and share and spend time with those folks.
[...] 15, 2009 by smilingkj In a previous post, I mentioned my visit to the local nursing home, which happens on an alternating basis with my [...]